Update: this is my official proposal for http://groups.drupal.org/node/19441, the official proposal is at http://socghop.appspot.com/student_proposal/show/google/gsoc2009/mikey_p...
Abstract: Many tools exist for automatically provisioning new, autonomous Drupal sites, but are often complex to set up, configure and maintain. This module is a simple solution for creating new sites using Drupal’s multisite functionality within an existing site.
Description: The Whitelabel module is based on the concept of white label products, detailed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_label_product. Many users would like to be able to create an a new site using an existing site or installation profile as the basis. This will not create a new, fully autonomous site, but a sub site of the site using the Whitelabel module, similar to wordpress.com or blogger.com.
Project details: The following items is a list of deliverables for this project
- The module shall be easy to configure on shared hosting without shell access.
- The module shall use the permissions system to determine access to the Whitelabel features.
- The administrators will be able to determine default configuration options for the sites to be created, as well as determine what configuration options are available to end users for their new sites.
- The system will maintain a list of sites for the administrator and a list of sites created by each, user accessible from their account.
- There will be a scheduling system to move creation of new sites (which may be a process intensive task) to a queue to be processed by other means, such as Drupal’s cron mechanism, or another scheduling system.
- The user will be able to check the status of the sites they have requested to be built, and notify them when they are completed.
- (Optional) The system will include the ability to expose a multiple server infrastructure to the administrator and use web services, such as XML-RPC or REST, to communicate the list of sites to be built to another site with the Whitelabel module installed where the Whitelabel site will be built. All above functions will be supported through web services.
- All aspects of the module will be fully modular and allow other modules to act on the actions taken, or to alter, and provide additional options to the administrator or user.
Schedule:
Week 1: Define features,
Week 2-4: Develop provision code in a secure manner
Week 5: Develop scheduler
Week 6-7: Developer end user and administrator interface,
Week 8: Usability testing on user interfaces
Week 9-10: Web services integration
Week 11: Writing tests and documentation
Mentors:
- None yet.
Difficulty: Medium
About me:
Name: Michael D Prasuhn
My introduction to free/open software was with the Drupal project, beginning in 2006. I am enrolled at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon just outside Portland.